March of this year Jasmine and I had the joy of crossing off one of our photography bucket list items. We ventured for a few jammed packed days to Havana, Cuba. We stayed at a wonderful low cost Airbnb right outside of town (for you Michiganders think Heritage Hill of Cuba).
Our travel experience was fantastic and we could not help but love the spanish culture of Cuba. The people were so friendly and the food was so good!
Though, we had our fair share of hiccups. A family member of ours was injured by a large wave (ola!) that came up over the sea wall and pounded the poor man into the concrete and nearly into the busy road. I’ll spare you the details because the story is long but in retrospect actually pretty comical. Basically try not to go to a Cuban public hospital while on vacation.
We also had the most insane issue flying out. The airport can be directly compared to if you took the DMV and a dentist office and put them together. We had no money, bring wads of cash, currently no credit cards are accepted despite what the kind folks on Trip Advisor say. We were told our booking time did not exist. Which it definitely did and we definitely watched it fly away without us. So, we were bumped to a later flight which was canceled due to a broken window which meant we had a 14 hour delay for about an hour flight. However, the good people of American Airlines did bump us to first which was good because we were on the runway for about 3 hours before the government would let us take off.
If you looked at our instagram though you would have missed all these juicy details!
Regardless, the trip was totally worth it and we learned a thing or two about traveling to Cuba and their cultural differences. We were romanticized by the small winding streets through Old Havana. It gives you such a clear picture of the history in the area and if you squint your eyes a little you can imagine what it looked like in its prime. Today many of the buildings look somewhat apocalyptic.
We were able to wander in wonder through the city, drive out to the coast, visit Finca Vigía (Ernest Hemingway’s house), have coffee by invitation at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, try a real cuban mojito, and even ride in a classic car.
We are thankful for this adventure and hope that in sharing some of our images with you that it might prompt you to take a trip yourself!
If you have any questions, we are by know means experts, send us an e-mail and we would be happy to try and answer them!
Trip details
Location: Havana, Cuba
Where we stayed: Airbnb listing 15947972
Photographers: Blake and Jasmine Wisz
Photography by Blake and Jasmine Wisz, 2017. Shot on the gear of the era. See more travel photography.